Keep child molester locked up, state says

WOODSTOCK – Prosecutors want a repeated child molester to be declared a sexually violent person so he can be confined longer than his nearly 11-year sentence.

Guy E. Wilson, 54, formerly of Wonder Lake, pleaded guilty in August 2007 to aggravated criminal sexual abuse and was sentenced to 10 years, eight months in prison. However, with good behavior, Wilson is required to serve a little more than five years of his sentence and could be nearing release.

The conviction in McHenry County was Wilson’s third on sex abuse charges. Just a few months before, he pleaded guilty to the same offense in Jefferson County and was given seven years in prison. The seven years was to be served at the same time as the McHenry County sentence.

Illinois Assistant Attorney General Donna Jo Maki filed documents this week asking that Wilson remain in custody under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act. A clinical psychologist diagnosed Wilson with pedophilia as well as a personality disorder with narcissistic and antisocial features, according to documents.

Wilson’s mental disorders predispose him to sexual violence, Maki said. She said he is “dangerous to others because his mental disorders create a substantial probability that he will engage in acts of sexual violence.”

If Wilson is declared a sexually violent person, he would be committed to the Illinois Department of Human Services for treatment. There would be a hearing in six months to assess how treatment is going, and from then on, Wilson would have annual reviews, said Scott Mulford, spokesman for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

“It’s a tool that can be used to keep some really unhealthy individuals away from society who really need help,” Mulford said.

The McHenry County case for which Wilson is serving time involved a 15-year-old girl who was abused in 2004.

Wilson met a woman living in downstate Mount Vernon on the Internet in 2004, police said. A short time after they met, Wilson began having sexual relations with the girl who is related to the woman, both at Wilson’s McHenry County home and in a Mount Vernon hotel, which is in Jefferson County.

Other people declared sexually violent in McHenry County include Gary Welsh and Christopher Tatara.

Welsh was convicted of raping and murdering a 3-year-old girl in 1962, when Welsh was 23. In 2010, he was allowed to move into a Rockford apartment, where he is under strict rules and monitored by state officials.

Tatara, now 30, finished an eight-year prison sentence in 2009 for sexual assault; the victims were 9- and 12-year-old relatives.

Tatara had said that he molested more than 50 other victims, but they never were identified. He remains at the Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility.